Large burner assemblies are used in a wide variety of industrial applications. Such burner assemblies are commonly used, for example, in petroleum refinery operations to supply the large quantities of heat necessary for crude oil distillation.
One particular burner assembly is illustrated in FIG. 1. This burner assembly comprises a cylindrical air register, a large-diameter burner riser disposed along the central axis of the air register, and a plurality of small-diameter burner risers disposed in a circular pattern around the large-diameter burner riser. Typically, fuel oil is burned at a burner tip disposed at the top of the large-diameter burner riser and natural gas or a suitable fuel gas is burned at burner tips disposed at the top of the small-diameter burner risers. Combustion oxygen is provided to all of the burner tips by heated air which is force-fed into the air register by one or more air movers such as blowers or fans.
Operators of this type of burner assembly, however, have frequently found that post-installation attempts to increase the capacity of this type of burner assembly are restricted by the amount of combustion oxygen which can be economically forced into the air register. Thus, when operators have found that their post-installation operating conditions require additional burner capacity, an entirely new burner is often purchased and installed.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of reconfiguring burner assemblies such as shown in FIG. 1 to provide corresponding burner assemblies with significantly increased capacity.